Pompidou

Series 1
- Episode 1
Hunger

Review

by Jack Seale

There’s no comedy on TV at the moment like this, a remarkable comeback effort by Matt Lucas. There have, however, been plenty like it in years gone by: the quickest way to describe it would be The Fast Show’s Rowley Birkin starring in a remake of Mr Bean, with other influences stretching further back to European mime and even Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

Lucas is a crass toff who, judging by the fact that he lives in a caravan and spends this entire episode foraging for food, has fallen on hard times. He and his butler Hove (Alex MacQueen) try fishing and hunting but end up in hospital, a caper that at no stage involves intelligible dialogue.

Everyone gibbers expressively instead, in a family goof-fest where a good half of the gags are gems.

Summary

New series. Comedy starring Matt Lucas as penniless aristocrat Pompidou, who lives in a clapped-out old caravan parked in front of his now crumbling estate. In the first episode Pompidou, his butler Hove, and their Afghan hound Marion are hungry, but there is no food in and no money either. A desperate attempt to find something to eat lands Hove in a sticky situation and it's up to Pompidou to get him out. With Alex Macqueen and Roy Barraclough.